Internet rallies behind NSA leaker Edward Snowden

Edward Snowden is holed up in a hotel in Hong Kong (Picture: Reuters/the Guardian/Glenn Greenwald/Laura Poitras)

A White House petition demanding Barack Obama pardon National Security Agency surveillance programme whistleblower Edward Snowden has attracted more than 15,000 signatures, as a separate campaign was launched to ‘reward’ him for his actions.

The petition on the We The People site, which the White House is bound to respond to once 100,000 signatories are reached, calls for a ‘full, free and absolute’ pardon for the 29-year-old, who is dubbed a ‘national hero’.

Hong Kong: The US has an extradition treaty with China, but exceptions are made in political cases (Picture: EPA)

Calling for people to help Mr Snowden, who is in hiding in Hong Kong, with legal fees, hotel bills or flight costs, he wrote: ‘I’d imagine Snowden’s fate is going to be determined by forces larger than legal bills, but have heard he’s stuck in HK with frozen accounts. Figured a little cash might help significantly.’

The US has reportedly launched a formal investigation into Mr Snowden’s actions.

‘I have no intention of hiding who I am because I know I have done nothing wrong,’ the former CIA employee said.

The National Security Agency collected data from subscribers to some of the world’s biggest communications companies (Picture: EPA)

‘I’m willing to sacrifice [my normal life] because I can’t in good conscience allow the US government to destroy privacy, internet freedom and basic liberties for people around the world with this massive surveillance machine they’re secretly building.’

Mr Snowden has been hailed as the most significant whistleblower in US history since Daniel Ellsberg and Bradley Manning.

The leak has also attracted praise from across the political spectrum, with filmmaker Michael Moore dubbing him ‘hero of the year’, while right-wing shock jock Glenn Beck said Mr Snowden represented ‘yet another chance for America to regain her moral compass and set things right’.